Long after you call it a night, the people who keep the city going overnight are quietly making their rounds: fires are being put out, waitresses are dishing up eggs over easy, cops are checking in on shots fired and fender benders from Ballard to West Seattle. P-I night city editor Angelo Bruscas will bring you the breaking news and the stories of the city after dark on his blog, Seattle@Nite.

Hempfest claims victory in SAM sculpture-park dispute

Organizers of Seattle’s Hempfest, recently learned that the annual cannabis freedom frolic has won city hall support in its fight with the Seattle Art Museum.

SAM and Hempfest have been in a tiff since the museum began planning the Olympic Sculpture Park at Myrtle Edwards Park – Hempfest’s home every August. What ought to be a match made in heaven – outdoor modern art and people who, generally speaking, like pot – soured during the planning process.

Festival organizers said the proposed park didn’t provide enough access to accommodate Hempfest-size crowds. Most of their suggestions were ignored, Hempfest Executive Director Vivian McPeak said, and festival goers paid the price during the 2006 event.

“Our worst fears were realized last year, when there was a crowd crush,” McPeak said.

The crowd over ran a construction fence and did about $16,500 in damage to the sculpture park construction site, a bill SAM brass demanded that Hempfest pick up.

McPeak said his organization objected – he argued that SAM also bore some responsibility for the bit of bedlam. But he said organizers “bit the bullet” Friday and paid the full amount to put the mess behind them.

McPeak said the festival got a better bit of news earlier this month. City officials sent a letter to SAM saying the museum can’t close a path through the sculpture park that Hempfest organizers say is needed for crowd control.

As Emerald City alt-weekly The Stranger pointed out Monday on its online “Slog,” city officials also asserted that SAM can’t close the sculpture park using contract language designed to allow for private parties.

McPeak was quick to point out that the city has yet to issue a permit for the festival. That decision will likely come sometime in June.

Still, work is already well under way on the festival. McPeak said former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper and travel writer Rick Steves have both agreed to speak at the festival, now in its 16th year.